How Far Are You Willing To Go?
by ScarletNetscape
Summary: It's 1964 and Team Fortress has yet to be formed. In order to get hired Sentinel and the mercs are sent through rigorous trials in order to prove they're good enough for Mann Co., but Sentinel doesn't know if she can do it. The trials get tougher and tougher with each day and the mercs must work together if they want to survive.
1. Chapter 1: Same Sunglasses!

Ellie yawned as she stared out the car window. The scenery was extremely dull, and the blistering heat wasn't making things better. Sighing, she fell back onto her seat and closed her eyes. She and Ms. Pauling had been in the car for four hours now with absolutely NO sign of civilization. Sentinel tapped her leg and leaned forward.

"Hey, we getting close?" She asked.

"Kind of. We've got one more hour to go." Pauling replied.

Ellie shook her head and leaned back. Closing her eyes once more, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Snzz-hng?!" Ellie jumped and looked around. Pauling was trying to shake her awake. Politely batting her off, Ellie smoothed her hair and grabbed her bags.

"Finally! You don't know how long I've been poking you," Pauling huffed and pushed her glasses up. "We're here, if you haven't already noticed."

Ellie watched as the woman walked off towards the two large buildings. They seemed to be repurposed mills; the one on the right was red and the one on the left was blue.. A small bridge separated the two buildings and underneath it was a small sewer system. "Hmm, it doesn't seem _that_ bad…" She lugged her rifle over her shoulder and ran to catch up with Ms. Pauling. The hot sun was already making her sweat.

"Hey, Ms. Pauling?"

"Yes?"

"The trials you want me to complete, they're not _life-threatening_ are they?"

Pauling scrunched her nose and shook her head. "Well...as long as you know what you're doing you'll be absolutely fine!" She gave a light chuckle and continued walking. The two passed the mills and started toward the small town in the distance. Ellie started to feel uneasy.

"Wait, the base is over there, isn't it? Where are we going?"

"We're going to the trials. You didn't think I'd let you look around did I? We haven't even hired you yet!"

Ellie looked at the mills behind her. Pauling was right, she didn't have to tell her anything at all. After about twenty minutes of walking, she looked up at the sign that hung over the both of them.

"Teufort?"

Pauling nodded. "We've emptied the whole town for this and fenced most of it off to prevent people from escaping the battlegrounds." She turned to look at Ellie. "Try to remember that?"

Ellie nodded quickly and gulped. What the hell did she get herself into? She turned the corner and could immediately hear laughter and a whole lot of yelling. Pauling walked towards a nearby building and held the door open. Inside were dozens of people of all shapes and sizes. Some were dressed professionally while the others looked a little worse for wear. Their talk quieted down once they realized Sentinel was joining them. As she was walking through the crowd, she could hear murmurs from the back of the room. Doing her best to ignore them, Sentinel sat down at an abandoned table and watched as Ms. Pauling walked towards the room's podium. Motioning with her hands, the crowd turned to face her as well.

"Alright guys, that was the last of them. You all know why you're here, right?" A few no's followed by some chuckles could be heard from across the room. Pauling rolled her eyes and continued. "The battleground is set. You've been advised to form alliances, but keep this in mind; the alliance can be broken at any time." Pauling pointed to Ellie bag. "You are all to use the weapons you brought with you. If you run out of ammo or need to get patched up, health kits and ammo packs can be located all throughout the town. Whether or not the ammo fits your gun is not our concern" The crowd started talking amongst themselves. Ellie looked around noticed that nearly everyone in the room had come with someone they knew. She was one of the only ones alone.

Pauling tapped the mic again and began to speak. "One more thing you guys! This is a deathmatch which means almost all of you will end up dead by the end of the match. The ten left alive by the end of the round will be _considered_ for Mann Co., but that doesn't guarantee you the position." The crowd grew anxious and Ellie's spine crawled. She'd made a huge mistake by coming here. Pauling tapped her watch and looked at the crowd. "Clock's ticking you guys! Be ready in ten minutes!"

The moment she left, the crowd started scrambling. Ellie watched as some of them begged to form alliances with people who were clearly stronger than them, only to pushed away. She sighed and looked around. Spying a tall, lonely man near the back she carefully made her way towards him. He was holding a rifle too and watched her as she stood in front of him. He checked his scope and loaded his rifle.

"Whadya want?" He asked. Ellie nearly gasped. _He's Australian._ Keeping calm, she extended her hand and tried her best to act professional.

"I noticed you're a sniper too. You also don't have a partner." She held her head higher. "I think we should try to work together." The man squinted through his sunglass and walked towards her. She felt tiny compared to him. He leaned down and tipped his hat up.

"Two snipers is a horrible idea, besides! I work better alone." He crossed his arms and waited for her response.

Ellie frowned and took off her sunglasses. Handing them to him, he look confused, but took them anyways.

"Wha-"

"Just put them on for a second?"

The sniper grumbled and replaced his sunglasses. Immediately, his expression changed and Ellie smiled. Walking over to the crowd, she sneakily placed one of her rifle bullets in one of the men's pockets and made her way back to the sniper.

"Well? What do you see?" The man looked at her and then at the man she'd tagged.

"They light up like a god damned christmas tree!"

Ellie snickered and waved her hand in front of his face. Reached up and adjusted the knob on the side of the glasses. His expression changed again.

"Night vision? Infrared? You've gotta be kiddin' me." He chuckled lightly and handed her back the glasses. "You're a bounty hunter, aren't you?" Ellie shrugged and crossed her arms.

"What gave you that idea?" She smiled and held her hand out again. "Seriously, cmon. We have matching sunglasses and everything!"

The sniper sighed and hesitated. She could tell he still wanted to work alone. After a few seconds of thinking, he reached out and firmly shook her hand.

"Fine, but if you try _anything_ I'm shooting you in the back of the head." He mumbled and leaned against the wall. "I won't hesitate to kill you. Don't think we're friends, either."

Ellie grinned and leaned against the wall next to him. "Wouldn't dream of it. By the way, my name's Ellie. You?"

"Mundy."

"That's pretty weird."

"Shut it."


	2. Chapter 2: Scared of Heights?

Pauling walked back to the podium and coughed into the microphone. The crowd quieted down and waited for her to talk.

"Time's up you guys! Let's go outside and get into position."

The crowd got up and hustled out the door. Ellie and Mundy stayed behind and waited for the crowd to dissipate. Walking outside, they lined up and awaited their instructions. The speakers overhead sparked to life and nearly deafened the mercenaries.

"Listen up. The deathmatch will not stop until only ten of you are left. You all have twenty minutes to get into your desired positions. Buildings may be destroyed. You'll be released in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The Deathmatch has started!"

Without warning, Mundy sprinted off towards the right. Ellie struggled to keep up with his speed and was wheezing by the time he stopped.

"See that water tower?" He pointed and looked down. "We're setting up there." He grinned and ran forward. "Try to keep up!"

"You ass!" She groaned and ran with him. They reached the tower and he began to climb. Ellie watched helplessly as he jumped to grab the tower's ladder and easily pulled himself up. She jumped up but missed the ladder completely.

"Havin' trouble, mate?" Mundy snickered and held his hand out. "If you miss this you're going to have to go somewhere else."

Ellie groaned and leapt as high as she could. Grabbing his hand, she dangled in the air until he managed to pull her up. Huffing, he readjusted his sunglasses and continued climbing.

"You don't need my help do you?"

"No!"

Finally reaching the top, he sat down and looked through his scope. Smiling to himself, he aimed and took a shot. The noise could be heard all throughout the town. Quickly discarding the spent case, he reloaded the rifle and cursed. His thumb had gotten caught.

"Watch my back, mate. Don't want anyone sneaking up on us."

Switching on the heat sensors, Ellie looked down and could see at least three people trying to get onto the tower. Taking aim, she fired two shots. Two of the men fell to the ground while the third tried to run.

"Mundy, your six."

He swiveled and fired a quick shot. The man keeled over and stopped moving.

"Damn. You're one hell of a shot!"

"Have to be. It's my job." He turned around again and reloaded the rifle. "You're not half-bad either. Just need to work on the angle. Your mark is off."

Ellie stuck out her tongue and looked around. Attaching her scope, she look to the left. Two people were fighting over a healthkit. One was wearing dog tags while the other was wearing a brown bandana. The one wearing the tags grabbed his bat and knocked the other over, stealing the healthkit. The man with the bandana was about to get up when Mundy took the shot.

"Why didn't you shoot the other one, mate?"

Ellie grumbled and checked the back. "He was too fast." She looked through the scope again and started to shake. Sighing, she switched the glasses off and watched Mundy work.

"You're shakin'. Scared of heights?"

"What? No! Maybe? Shut up."

He laughed and stared at her. "You're a sniper aren't you? How the bloody hell are you scared of heights?" He chuckled again and shoved her slightly. It was enough for her to gasp and grab onto the railing. He grinned and got back into position.

Ellie frowned and looked at the ladder again. No one was coming up, but something seemed off.

"Hey, Mundy. What the hell is that?"

He turned to look and nearly yelled. The bottom of the water tower was covered in sticky bombs.

"Hang onto something!"

As if on cue, the bombs exploded, shattering the tower's foundation and causing the whole thing to tip sideways. The tower was going to fall directly onto one of the other buildings. Ellie struggled to maintain her grip as another explosion rocked the tower back and forth. Water gushed from the tank and caused Mundy to lose his balance.

"Oh, hell!"

He nearly tumbled off the tower, but Ellie grabbed him by the leg and struggled to hold him up.

"Pull me up god damn it!"

"You're too fucking heavy!"

She strained with the weight and yelped when she lost her footing. Dangling by one arm she couldn't hold her grip any longer. The two screeched as they came crashing down through the building's roof. Luckily, the roof and the water had cushioned their fall. Ellie felt something in her leg snap and winced. Her grip on Mundy's leg grew tighter.

"I can't get up with you holdin' me like that! Let me go!"

She unclenched her fingers and he scrambled to his feet. Grabbing Ellie by the belt, he hoisted her up and onto his shoulders. Her leg was bent at an odd angle.

"You just _had_ to break your leg!"

"It wasn't my fault you LANDED on me!"

The sniper growled and waded through the water. The tower above them was about to collapse any second now. Setting her down for a minute, he backed up and rammed the front door. It broke and he ran outside.

"Stay there!" He called and ran in the opposite direction.

"Where the hell is he going?" Ellie looked at her leg and then at the falling water tower. The house was not going to hold it for much longer. Struggling to her feet, she used her rifle as a crutch and hobbled out of the house. Out in the open, she limped over to the nearest hiding spot and turned on her glasses. To her dismay, five people were already coming to inspect the damage. Taking aim, she waited for the others to spot each other.

Two of the mercenaries began fist fighting. They were too preoccupied to notice the bombs being lobbed at them from behind. Ellie shielded her eyes as they detonated and the bomber laughed heartily as he ran to the left. Ellie tried to shoot, but couldn't hit her mark. Her tracking bullet went too wide and hit the building in front of him. The attacker turned around and she fired again.

"He's wearing an eyepatch?"

The man jumped and ran where she couldn't see him.

"Aw, shit!" Ellie groaned and leaned back into her hiding place. Where the hell was Mundy? She heard oncoming footsteps and readied her rifle, but stopped short once she realized who it was. "Mundy? God, man where have you been?! I nearly got blown up!"

"I told you to stay inside!"

"The building was going to collapse!"

He rubbed his forehead and hoisted her up. "Forget about it. We need to get somewhere safe." He grabbed her glasses and put them on. Tweaking the settings, he looked to the right and grinned. "Hah! An empty building! Let's go."

Carefully making his way towards the house, he opened the door and locked it behind him. Setting Ellie down on the sofa, he pushed a chair against the door and walked back towards her.

"Oh! You got a healthkit!" She grinned.

"Not for you!" He replied and showed her a small cut on his arm. "See! I'm nearly dead!"

Ellie laughed and winced. It hurt to breathe and she hoped she hadn't broken any of her ribs.

"Shit, sorry mate. Let me fix that." Looking at her leg for a moment, the sniper grabbed it and pushed the bone down harshly. She had to hold back tears. Grabbing two small planks of wood, he tied them to her leg and tested them out. "Doesn't look too bad! You'll be fine." He went to clean his wounds when Ellie started to laugh.

"And you said we weren't friends!" She snickered and played with her bandages.

"We're not."

"Then why did you risk your life to help me?"

He paused and grumbled. Tossing her the ammo pack he'd picked up he walked into the house's bathroom and closed the door.


	3. Chapter 3: Watch My Back

Ellie sighed and picked up the healthkit. It was still stocked with supplies and she spied a small, red syringe in the back of it. Taking it out, she turned it around and read the label.

"Inject into open wounds, use only a small amount. Effects start immediately."

Shrugging, she used the syringe and injected the wounds on her leg. Immediately, she could feel a burning sensation all throughout her leg. I was bearable at first, but became burning hot. She yelled and Mundy came running out of the bathroom.

"What the hell happened?"

"AhhhAAGGGH!"

Ellie hissed and grabbed the couch. The pain was traveling throughout her whole body. Had the syringe been a trap? Mundy watched as her wounds seemed to fix themselves. The open cuts on her legs and arms sealed up and her broken bone corrected itself. He took off his hat and put his hand on his forehead.

"What the bloody hell just happened?" He laughed and poked her leg. "It's healed!"

Ellie groaned and sat up. Testing out her leg, a wave of nausea made her dry heave. Thankfully, she hadn't eaten anything the entire day. Mundy scooched backwards.

"Don't throw up on me."

"I'm not trying to!" She got up and wobbled. The pain still lingered, but it wasn't as bad as before. Breathing heavily, she stumbled to a chair and leaned on it. Closing her eyes, she waited for the vertigo to subside.

"Mate, you really shouldn't be putting random stuff in you."

"Well, it worked out didn't it?" She huffed and handed him the syringe. "Here, you've got some pretty bad cuts oh your arms. Heal up." Mundy grabbed the syringe and wavered.

"I'm going to regret this." Injecting himself with the needle, he hissed and dropped it. His jaw clenched and his face grew red. Ellie could tell he was trying to hold in the pain.

"Doing that makes it worse, you know." She went to grab the half-empty syringe. "You're lucky. At least you didn't break your leg." The sniper grumbled and straightened. He was sweating and wiped at his forehead.

"You weren't joking."

"What, you think I was playing pretend? I know I'm a wuss, but jeez." Ellie went to poke him in the ribs when she heard the sound of a gun revving up. Grabbing the Australian by his collar, she pulled the both of them to the ground. Seconds after, the windows in the house shattered.

"Minigun!" Mundy yelled and shimmied towards his rifle. "Ohh bugger. I can't get a good shot!" Motioning with his rifle, he started crawling towards the back of the house. "Backdoor, get to the backdoor!"

Ellie made a mad dash towards the back, narrowly avoiding the trail of bullets following her. Mundy threw the backdoor open and the two ran as fast as they could. A stray bullet grazed his leg and sent him tumbling to the ground. Cursing, he grabbed onto Ellie's extended hand and pulled himself up.

"Get behind the wall!" She yelled and dragged the Australian to safety. Wheezing, she grabbed his rifle and took aim. Firing, she hit the tank next to the house. It exploded and sent shrapnel everywhere. The gunfire stopped.

"Hey!"

"Gotcha!" She laughed, relieved and fanned herself. "Is your leg okay?" Mundy grumbled and took a look at his wound. It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't good either. His pants were caked with blood and dirt, but it didn't bother him. Testing his leg, he winced and sat back down.

"You got anymore of that healing stuff?" He asked.

"I think it's still in the house somewhere. There was no time to grab it, sorry." Ellie shrugged and dug through her pack. "I DO have some bandages and a little bit of ointment though." Cleaning his wound, she wrapped the gauze around it and tied it shut. "Can you manage?" He nodded tiredly and grabbed his rifle back and examined it for damage. Ellie frowned and nudged him. "Ohhh come on. I didn't break anything!" He gave her the side-eye and continued looking.

"We need to get somewhere high," Mundy sighed and peered around the corner. The remnants of the house had burst into flames. "So much for that," he sighed and adjusted his hat. "How safe are we?"

"I got it, I got it...I think we're clear, but then again that fire is messing up my sensors. I can't see behind its heat signature." She took off the glasses and smacked them. "Alright, that didn't work. Why don't we go towards the playground? It has some good cover."

"The playground."

"You got any better ideas?" She shook her head and headed towards the seesaw. Before she could even say it, Mundy scoffed.

"Absolutely not."

"You're no fun."

The two walked over to the playground's fort and climbed up. It wasn't big enough to fit the both of them, so Ellie stayed on the steps. Taking aim with her rifle, she fired four shots and ejected the empty magazine.

"Four more tagged. One's missing a leg." Handing her glasses over to Mundy, he took aim and fired. Ellie watched in awe as he quickly reloaded the rifle and fired again. He was way faster than she would ever be. After he was done firing, he glanced at Ellie and chuckled.

"What?"

Ellie smoothed her hair and motioned to his rifle. "How long have you been doing this?" He tilted his head and began to think.

"Five, maybe four years. Why?" Ellie huffed and placed her hands on her hips.

"You're just really good at it. Compared to you, I'm horrible." She laughed sadly and let her legs dangle off the side of the steps. "I could've killed those guys, you know. If my aim was better, you wouldn't have had to shoot them." She frowned and took out her pistol. "I'm out of rifle bullets anyways, so keep the glasses. I'll just watch your back while you do all the work."

Mundy paused and pressed his lips into a firm line. Turning around, he watched as four other mercenaries began fighting with each other. They were pretty far away, but they were preoccupied. Perfect targets. He watched as one of them smashed the other into the side of the wall, downing him. The other pulled out a small pistol and gunned down the man pursuing. Mundy was about to finish the rest of them off when he noticed the dust around their feet stir up. He did a double take.

"Mate, take a look. You see that?" He nudged Ellie and pointed.

"See what?"

"Look at the ground and the dust. There's footsteps appearing, but no one's bloody there!"

Ellie squinted and looked on in disbelief. She watched as the two left started swinging wildly. The one on the right suddenly keeled over and was thrown to the left. There was a knife stuck in his back. His partner tried to run, but was knocked backwards and fell down the well. Ellie gasped and stared.

"Mundy, what the hell did we just see?" She whispered. The Australian muttered to himself in disbelief.

"Whatever it was, it isn't good. We need to go." He jumped off the playground's fort and waited for Ellie to catch up.

"How long have we been in this deathmatch?" She wondered. "How many of us are left?" Mundy raised his eyebrows and looked at his watch.

"About four hours." The two came to a stop in front of a fountain. "This is too-GET DOWN!" He reached out and yanked Ellie to the floor. A knife flew over her head and into the wall. Spinning, around in circles, his eyes darted back and forth. "Get up!" Ellie scrambled to her feet and looked at where the knife had landed. It was gone.

"Mundy, back to back!" The two pulled out their guns and looked around. Out of nowhere, something swung and connected with Ellie's jaw. She was knocked into the fountain and her vision went hazy. Struggling to get up, she was hit again and groaned. Shakily, she grabbed her pistol and fired two shots. One of them must've connected because she heard a curse and watched as footsteps ran away from her.

"Bugger! God damnit!" Mundy pressed his back to the wall and grabbed his kukri. Before he even had a chance to swing it, he felt a fist slam into his gut. Doubling over, he dodged to the right and felt something dig into his shoulder blade. Yelling, he swung and gasped as his knife grazed something. A piece of black cloth was dangling from the tip of the kukri. It was soaked in blood. Throwing himself backwards, he winced and clawed at his back. Grasping onto the knife's handle, he pulled it out with a yelp and threw it to the floor. "Ellie, get the fuck up!"

Ellie winced and tried to stand. She could feel a bruise forming where the first hit had landed. Stumbling out of the fountain, she ran behind Mundy and held out her pistol. The two watched as a cloud of smoke appeared in front of them. They watched in disbelief as a man seemed to materialize in front of them. He was wearing a ski mask and a suit. His chest was bleeding from where Mundy had hit him and his left arm was dangling at his side, useless. Sneering, the man rushed forward and knocked Mundy off his feet. He landed with a yelp and didn't get up.

Ellie scrambled to reload her pistol, but was unable to do it in time. The man smacked it out of her hand and pushed her to the ground. Struggling, Ellie blocked the first blow and struggled to keep his knife away from her throat. Screaming, she pushed back with all her strength, but she wasn't strong enough. The man grunted with the effort and pushed his entire weight down. Right before it was about to hit skin, the speakers crackled.

"Ceasefire! Put down your weapons. When you're ready, enter the truck to the far west of town."

The man on top of her paused and she bucked him off. Scrambling away from him, she grabbed her pistol and aimed. The man held his hands up and dropped his knife.

"You heard the announcer. Put the gun down."

His french accent caught her off guard. Eyeing him, she put down the gun and ran over to Mundy. The man was breathing, but it was shallow. His skin was pale and he was starting to feel cold.

"Medkit!" She yelled and dashed towards the fountain. Looking around, she noticed a small box near the base. Grabbing it, she looked through and was relieved to find the same red syringe. Injecting the wound on Mundy's back she watched as he stirred and groaned. "Oh, thank god." Struggling under the man's weight, she hoisted him up and supported him the best she could. The two stumbled past the man in the mask and toward the truck. Pausing outside the truck's door, Ellie held her hand up and flipped him off.

"Fuck you."


End file.
